Hi. I am going to Venice for the 1st time in a few months. My daughter has been ,but I have not, and from what I read alot of places will have lines unless I buy tickets ahead of time.
Where do you buy tickets ahead of time in order to avoid having to stand in long lines?
We want to go into the Doges Palace and St Marks of course. Just trying to avoid long lines.
Thanks ahead of time for any advice.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
I strongly recommend getting a good guidebook for Venice. The Rick Steves one is excellent and includes information on which places require reservations AND how to do them.
Happy travels.
Posted by
Moncton NB
1140 posts
I personally try to avoid buying time-specific tickets ahead of time; I find it restricts spontaneity. But here are two time-saving tips:
Doge's Palace: go on a Friday or Saturday evening, when its open to 11. If you go in after 7:00 you'll find no crowds and great ambience.
St Marks: check a bag at the Ateneo San Basso church just down the left side of the basilica. Once you've done that, there is a separate side entrance for those who checked bags.
Posted by
Sunnyvale, CA
149 posts
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thank you very much. that's very helpful!
Posted by
san diego, us
82 posts
darrenblois - Did you mean that one can go in to the basilica that way WITHOUT waiting in the regular line or making advanced reservation? Thanks.
Posted by
Moncton NB
1140 posts
Correct. At least that's how it was when I went, but that was 2006. I got the idea from the RS guidebook so check there to see if its still that way.
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15798 posts
The last time I was in Venice (February 2017) the hours and procedures for visiting St Mark's had changed and the hours were very limited. Since I'd been a couple of times before, I skipped it. The only thing ever I reserved in advance was the Secret Itineraries Tour at the Doge's Palace, which I highly recommend. If you take th tour, I think you can skip the ticket line. You can also buy a combo ticket from VeneziaUnica.
Posted by
Truro, NS, Canada
3943 posts
Not sure if you can still do this, but you can go to the Correr Museum and get a combo ticket with the Doge's Palace, that allowed you to skip the line. (We did this in 2012). The Correr was a great museum in it's own right and we quite enjoyed it. At the time, there was NO line for the Correr, so get the combo ticket there.
http://correr.visitmuve.it/en/pianifica-la-tua-visita/tickets/
If you wanted to go up in San Marco campanile (bell tower) and the line is horrendous, head across the lagoon from SMS and go up the San Giorgio campanile - most likely will not be a line, it was a few euro cheaper, and you can enjoy the view of SMS and the Bridge of Sighs (which you can't see from the SM bell tower). There were I think 2 other people up there when my hubby and I went up.
And for us, when we went into SM cathedral (we've done this a few times) - even tho the line was about 2/3rds of the way across the square, it still only took us 15 min to get to the door.
Posted by
Maryland
23 posts
We got tickets to the tour I think they call The Secret Itineraries of the Doge's Palace. Bought them online in the US, and didn't have to wait in a very long line for people who were waiting just to get in. The tour takes you to rooms you wouldn't otherwise see, and ends inside the Palace, so you can roam around from there. The tour only takes small groups (ours was about eight), with an English speaking guide. Really nice. Here's the link -- http://palazzoducale.visitmuve.it/en/pianifica-la-tua-visita/special-itineraries/secret-itineraries-tour/